"I appreciate all of the nice things he's been saying, but he does not represent me," Trump said in a phone interview. "And he is not an adviser to my potential campaign."

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In a separate statement, Trump said, "Roger Stone has appeared in the news making very favorable statements about me and my potential candidacy for President. While I greatly appreciate his flattering comments, Roger does not represent me and is not an adviser to my potential campaign. I will make a decision sometime prior to June as to whether or not I will run..."

The real estate mogul spoke after POLITICO published an interview with Stone on the subject of Trump, for whom the consultant worked as a lobbyist in Washington for years. Stone also headed Trump's presidential exploratory committee in 2000, one of the prior times the developer/prime-time star considered a run.

Stone, a former Nixon adviser, said in the interview that he expected Trump would self-fund a potential presidential bid, and that Trump has said he has $2 billion in cash from which to draw — although he also said he hasn't discussed financing with Trump. Trump has made clear he will spend some of his personal wealth on a campaign, should he go ahead.

Michael Cohen, a lawyer who works for Trump's organization, emphasized that Trump would want people to donate to the campaign because he would want people to feel like they were involved in the effort.

Stone had told POLITICO that he isn't part of any official Trump organization and wasn't speaking for him, saying he's spoken with Trump just a few times about possibly running. He has written extensively encouraging Trump to run and laying out a case for him, as he did in the interview with POLITICO.

He also predicted Trump would be able to raise funds for the party, which could in turn be spent on the ticket.

Stone, a controversial strategist who's worked for a number of upstart candidates, assessed the rest of the GOP field in candid terms, and said that part of Trump's appeal would be his outsider quality and his off-the-cuff style.

Stone said he believes Trump is seriously considering a White House run — not as a lark or a stunt to spur name recognition.

Trump's statement did not dispute the dollar figure in the story — $2 billion in cash — or that he would likely spend a few hundred million dollars of his own money, another figure Stone mentioned.

It's impossible to independently assess Trump's worth, since he wouldn't have to file financial disclosure statements unless he actually formed an exploratory committee for the presidency, and there are set deadlines for filing.